UNITED STATES AND CANADA – OCTOBER 15, 2018 – National Pit Bull Victim Awareness marks its fourth anniversary on October 27, 2018 with a renewed call for the media to address the critical issue of pit bull attacks.

October 27 is National Pit Bull Victim Awareness Day, in memory of those who have been attacked or killed, their families and neighborhoods, and the vast network of emergency response services, animal services, police, doctors and hospitals, victim support groups, therapists, editors, reporters and legislators affected by these tragedies.

We want to thank editors and reporters who inform the public about this serious issue. If you are not able to report on National Pit Bull Victim Awareness Day at this time, please keep our information and contacts on file.

National Pit Bull Victim Awareness (NPBVA) tracks media reports of pit bull attacks and deaths in the United States and Canada on an interactive map. In the first 8.5 months of 2018, the media has reported more than 600 attacks involving people, including 23 deaths by pit bulls. Pit bulls killed 9 children under the age of four.

SOBERING FACTS

One pit bull in 40 injures or kills a person or another animal, compared to 1 in 50,000 of all other dog breeds combined.

Between January 1 – October 15, 2018, pit bulls killed 24 out of 29 people killed by dogs.

Every year, pit bulls are responsible for:
90% of serious dog injuries to people
Deaths of up to 85% of adults and children killed by dogs
94% of all dogs killed by dogs
92% of dog maulings by other dogs
92% of all cats killed by dogs
85% of the deaths of farm animals killed by dogs

Yet pit bulls are only 6.5% of the dog population in the United States and Canada.

THE NUMBERS ARE NOT DECREASING

So far in 2018, someone has been killed by a pit bull on average every 13 days. Since we formed 4 years ago, the media in the United States and Canada has reported an average of 1,000 attacks per year.

But most municipalities do not track attacks by breed, and an estimated 70% of attacks are not reported due to privacy laws and other restrictions. Reported attacks this year have been highest in Florida (55 news reports including 4 deaths) and California (40 news reports including 1 death).

In September 2017, the crisis caught the attention of CBC’s Fifth Estate. The report examined claims of lobbyists spending millions of dollars re-branding pit bulls as safe family pets versus the findings of doctors and medical centers.

The number of medical articles published in 2018 has doubled as doctors and medical centers express concerns about the disproportionate numbers of attacks by pit bulls compared to other dogs, as well as the disproportionate amount of damage. Medical findings indicate:

• pit bulls are responsible for a significantly higher number of attacks, as well as significantly greater trauma and bite injuries;
• pit bulls are more then 2.5 times as likely to bite in several places than other breeds;
• almost half of all injuries require surgery.

The issue is a concern to many people. Google Analytics reported 255,000 unique visitors to the National Pit Bull Victim Awareness website in 2018 by October 15, almost 30,000 per month, with an average session duration of 3:20 minutes. On our Facebook page, victims tell heartbreaking stories of their own attacks and those of family members. In more than 50% of serious attacks, the pit bulls are family dogs.

A previous investigative piece by La Presse (August 13, 2016) examined links between the US pit bull lobby and its influence on veterinary doctors.

In addition to the human toll, thousands of household pets are killed by pit bulls. In 2015, pit bulls killed 24,000 other dogs and 13,000 cats, as reported by Animals 24-7, a news organization that has logged fatal and disfiguring dog attacks for 35 years.

ABOUT NATIONAL PIT BULL VICTIM AWARENESS

National Pit Bull Victim Awareness advocates for more than 70 organizations and social media groups in the United States and Canada, including memorial and support pages for victims of pit bull attacks, breed-safety legislation, and nonprofit organizations. View Partners and Friends

OUR GOALS

• We want the media to put victims first by reporting the emotional impact of pit bull attacks on families and communities.
• We want the media to help taxpayers understand the cost of subsidizing pit bull breeding, the cost of pit bull attacks, and the economic issues of up-to-80% pit bulls in taxpayer-funded shelters.
• We want to see pit bull ownership and pit bull breeding regulated. Lowering the pit bull population will reduce the number of serious maulings and the euthanasia of pit bulls.
• We want pit bull owners to have liability insurance which fully covers the medical costs of victims. In most cases, victims are left to pay the cost of life-flights, ambulances, emergency hospital treatments, and numerous surgeries for years to come.
• We want to see the end of cross-border transportation of pit bulls with unknown and potentially aggressive histories. We want to see the cross-border transportation of pit bulls from kill shelters in the United States to Canada stopped.

HOW REPORTING ON PIT BULLS NEEDS TO CHANGE

We believe the media creates a dangerous false balance when it presents the pit bull advocate viewpoint as being as valid as that of public health and safety professionals on the matter of pit bull attacks.

We do not believe people with a vested financial interest in the promotion of pit bulls should be presented as disinterested public officials on the topic.

In a debate on “whether smoking is bad for you”, the media would never ask cigarette companies for their views on whether cigarette smoking should be allowed back in schools or give airtime to the tobacco industry’s “bought and paid for” research. Yet media frequently does exactly this by turning to pit bull advocates.

QUOTES

“Pit bulls caused over 50% of the bites to children requiring a trip to the operating room because of the severity of their injuries. Moreover, pit bulls were over 2 and a half times more likely to bite in multiple areas of a child’s body than any other breed.” – Dr. Michael S. Golinko, “Characteristics of 1616 Consecutive Dog Bite Injuries at a Single Institution”, Clinical Pediatrics, 2018

“With dogs bred to fight and kill and to be muscular and strong like pit bulls, one slip-up can be disastrous, even fatal, especially for a child.” – Dr. Laura Marusinec

“You can’t love instinct out of them, you can’t train it out of them.” – Dr. Douglas Skinner

“But instead of placing regulations on dangerous breeds, we have lobbyists and legislators passing laws to protect dangerous dogs, not their victims.” – Liz Marsden, trainer in Michael Vick’s case

“They’re borderline dogs. They’re right on the edge all of the time. Even if the dogs are not trained or used for fighting, and even though they are generally good with people, their bloodline makes them prone to violence.” – F.L. Dantzler, HSUS Director of Field Services

“Pit bulls are different; they’re like wild animals. They’re not suited for an urban environment. I believe we should open our eyes and take a realistic approach to pit bulls.” – Alan Beck, Director for the Center for the Human Animal Bond at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, West Lafayette, Indiana

“Pit bulls are a breed-specific problem. The public is misled to believe that pit bulls are like any other dog. And they just aren’t.” – PETA

“If you are trying to create submission in a fighting breed, it’s not going to happen. They would rather die than surrender.” –¬ Cesar Milan, TV dog trainer

“Most breeds do not multiple-bite. A pit bull attack is like a shark attack: He keeps coming back.” – Kurt Lapham, field investigator for the West Coast Regional office of the Humane Society

RECENT ARTICLES IN REFEREED MEDICAL JOURNALS

Journal of Orthopedic Trauma, 2018
Dogs and Orthopaedic Injuries: Is There a Correlation with Breed?
Findings: Of the 95 patients, 50% were the result of a pit bull terrier bite and 22% by a law enforcement dog. A total of 32% were attacked by multiple dogs. Pit bull terrier bites were responsible for a significantly higher number of orthopaedic injuries and resulted in an amputation and/or bony injury in 66% of patients treated.

Southern Medical Journal, 2018
Characteristics of Dog Bites in Arkansas
Conclusions: The results are aligned mostly with the general trends found in previous national and global studies, supporting the notion that family dogs represent a more significant threat than often is realized and that, among the breeds identified, pit bulls are proportionally linked with more severe bite injuries.

Clinical Pediatrics, 2018
Characteristics of 1616 Consecutive Dog Bite Injuries at a Single Institution
Findings: Infants were more than 4 times as likely to be bitten by the family dog and more than 6 times as likely to be bitten in the head/neck region. Children under 5 years old were 62% more likely to require repair; and 5.5% of all patients required an operation. Pit bull bites were implicated in half of all surgeries performed and over 2.5 times as likely to bite in multiple anatomic locations as compared to other breeds.

International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, 2018
Pit Bull attack causing limb threatening vascular trauma —A case series
Findings: Canine attacks by Pit Bull Terriers and Rottweilers can occur at any age and in any anatomical area of the body particularly the limbs. Any attack by these large canines can result in limb loss or loss of life. Immediate surgical exploration is required to prevent catastrophic outcomes, especially limb loss.

Injury Prevention, 2018
Effectiveness of breed-specific legislation in decreasing dog-bite injury hospitalizations in Manitoba
Findings: By comparing the rate of dog bite injury hospitalizations in Winnipeg (where there is a ban on pit bulls) and Brandon (where there is no ban), a 14.7% reduction in the rate of dog bite injury hospitalizations was found for people of all ages, and of 28.1% for people under 20 years.

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2018
Retrospective analysis of necropsy reports from 2001-2012 suggestive of abuse in dogs and cats
Results: Pit bull-type dogs (29/73 or 40%) were overrepresented in several abuse categories, such as gunshot and blunt-force trauma. This supports legislation for mandatory spay/neuter to reduce suffering.

Journal of Neurosurgery – Pediatrics, 2017
Neurosurgical sequelae of domestic dog attacks in children
A retrospective review of all children requiring neurosurgical consultation for dog bite at a regional Level 1 pediatric trauma center over a 15-year period.
Finding: Dog attacks on children requiring neurosurgical consultation commonly involve the family pet, which is usually a large-breed dog with no history of prior aggression.

American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 2017
3 Year Review of a Level I Regional Referral Pediatric Trauma Hospital
Results: Of the 56 cases that identified dog breed, pit bulls accounted for 48.2 percent of the dog bites, and 47.8 percent of pit bull bites required intervention in the operating room.

Clinical Pediatrics, 2016
Characteristics of 1616 consecutive dog bite injuries at a single institution
Results: Pit bull bites were implicated in half of all surgeries and over 2.5 times as likely to bite in multiple anatomic locations as compared to other breeds.

To publicize this month, every few days we are releasing another in a series of short one-minute videos to inform the public on the extent of the pit bull crisis. These videos are available on our web site, our Youtube, Facebook and Twitter pages.

FAQS

What’s wrong with pit bulls?
There are more than 25 media reports of pit bull attacks on people per week, and one death every 13 days. By comparison, there are approximately 15 shark attacks on people per year in the United States, with one death every two years.

What makes pit bulls more dangerous than other dogs?
People who own pit bulls are not necessarily capable of training them or stopping an attack.

Pit bulls are zero-error dogs. There is zero room for mistakes like gates, doors or windows left open or unlocked; for leashes, chains and muzzles breaking or coming loose; or for people not strong enough or experienced enough to prevent attacks.

Why are pit bulls so popular if they are dangerous?
Pit bulls are not more “popular” than other dogs, but they represent up to 80% of abandoned and stray dogs in shelters at any given time.

Advocacy for pit bulls is extremely disproportionate to the actual numbers of pit bulls. There are 78 million dogs in the United States, and only 3.5 million or 4.5% of them are pit bulls.

Millions of dollars are spent on pit bull propaganda to convince people they are safe family pets.

What about adopting from shelters and rescue groups?
There is no way to track the history of abandoned and stray pit bulls. Shelters and rescue groups cannot guarantee your safety and you will likely sign a liability waiver relieving them of any responsibility.

The pit bulls in your shelter may not be local. Thousands of pit bulls with unknown backgrounds are transported daily between shelters in the United States. Thousands of pit bulls with unknown backgrounds are imported into Canada from U.S. shelters. Quebec alone has 16 border entry points.

To promote sales and adoptions, many shelters hide the breed of pit bull type dogs, rename them as other breeds or call them “mixed breed”. There is no guarantee you are not adopting a pit bull.

But aren’t I helping if I adopt a pit bull?
No. Shelters are desperate to re-home pit bulls. There are so many surplus pit bulls, they are often given away free.

More than 1 million pit bulls are euthanized every year, but more than 1 million more are abandoned. Every adopted or euthanized pit bull is immediately replaced by another one.

The adoption failure rate for pit bulls 1 year or older is about 50% per year — about 10 times higher than the failure rate for all other breed types combined.

CONTACT

National Pit Bull Victim Awareness is a North American advocacy initiative for more than 70 organizations and groups including DogsBite.org, Daxton’s Friends, Dangerous By Default, Protect Children from Pit Bulls and Other Dangerous Dogs, Breed Safety Laws Action Team, and BanPitBulls.org, and is supported by PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

As pit bull advocates celebrate their “month”, victims of pit bull attacks need your support. In the last 30 days, 4 more people have been killed by pit bulls. A 7-year old boy was fatally disembowelled in Lowell, Massachusetts, and 9 first respondents were taken to hospital for trauma after witnessing the scene. In Georgia, a woman was killed by a pit bull while getting out of her car. In Mississippi, a woman was killed by her son’s pit bulls. A one-month old Ohio baby was killed in his home by the family pit bulls. A 5-year old Utah girl was attacked in the face. Today, October 25, a 1-year old girl is in critical condition after her mother found her torn body in the jaws of the “family pet”, a pit bull. View map of media reports/

October 28 is Awareness Day for victims of pit bull attacks. Since releasing a press statement on September 24 about National Pit Bull Victim Awareness Day, dozens of vicious attacks have been reported by the media in almost every area of North America, including Ontario, British Columbia, Washington, California, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida.

With millions of dollars at their disposal, the wealthy pit bull lobby has wreaked havoc in Canada and the United States – denying the danger of pit bulls in families, encouraging No Kill shelters, allowing inter-state and cross-border transportation of pit bulls on death row, pressuring council members to drop breed restrictions, and lobbying for anti-BSL bills in Congress.

In 2017, 700 attacks involving people have been reported by the media. The majority are children and seniors. We ask you to please call attention to the victims of pit bull attacks on October 28, 2017 and continue your coverage of this growing crisis. We understand reporters, editors, publishers, senators and other government officials are ruthlessly harassed by the pit bull advocates, yet many of you speak out regardless. For this we thank you.

National Pit Bull Victim Awareness supports more than 70 groups concerned about the impact of the attacks on our communities.

Media Reports of Pit Bull Attacks

US and Canada – October 18, 2017 – National Pit Bull Victim Awareness marks its third anniversary on October 28, 2017 with a renewed call for action by journalists to address the critical issue of pit bull attacks. NPBVA tracks media reports of pit bull attacks in Canada and the United States on an interactive map. To date in 2017, more than 620 attacks involving people have been reported by the media. The majority are children and seniors.

A documentary produced by CBC’s Fifth Estate investigative team (September 22, 2017) is the first television program to examine the multi-million-dollar US lobbying effort to rebrand the pit bull as a family-friendly dog. “Pit Bulls Unleashed: Should They Be Banned?” addresses the trauma to victims and stresses the risks of pit bull adoption. It describes the mass export to Canada of US pit bulls on death row; investigates techniques used by shelters to hide the histories of dangerous pit bulls; and depicts neighborhoods where pit bulls are out of control in the United States.

A previous investigative piece by La Presse (August 13, 2016) examined links between the US pit bull lobby and its influence on veterinary doctors.

In addition to the toll placed on human safety, thousands of household pets are killed by pit bulls. In 2015, pit bulls killed 24,000 other dogs and 13,000 cats, as reported by Animals 24-7, a news organization that has logged fatal and disfiguring dog attacks for 35 years.

During the month of October, we honor victims of pit bull attacks and call attention to the severe injuries and deaths caused by pit bull-type dogs in the United States and Canada.

Partner organizations in the NPBVA initiative include Dogsbite.org, Daxton’s Friends (Wisconsin), PETA, Animals 24-7, Dangerous By Default (Maryland), Protect Children from Pit Bulls and Other Dangerous Dogs (California), Awareness for Victims of Canine Attack – AVOCA (Worldwide), and a new initiative for child victims SCARS Kids.

About National Pit Bull Victim AwarenessNational Pit Bull Victim Awareness advocates for more than 70 organizations and social media groups in the United States and Canada, including memorial and support pages for victims of pit bull attacks, breed-specific legislation, and non-profit organizations. View our Partners and Friends.

More than 70 groups have aligned with advocacy website NationalPitBullVictimAwareness.org to raise awareness of dog attacks and prevent maulings. The initiative, sponsored by Daxton’s Friends for Canine Education and Awareness, seeks to call attention to the scope and severity of this urgent public safety issue on October 22, 2016. #PitBullVictimAwareness

Map of pit bull attacks reported by the media (2016) USA and Canada

October 22, 2016
A North American coalition of over 70 groups concerned about the growing pit bull crisis is organizing the third annual National Pit Bull Victim Awareness Day on October 22, 2016. The day is intended to honor victims of pit bulls and call attention to the severe injuries and deaths caused by pit bull-type dogs in the United States and Canada.

In 2015, pit bulls caused 73% of the record 45 fatal dog attacks in the US and Canada despite comprising less than 6% of the dog population, as reported by Merritt Clifton, Editor of Animals 24-7.

National Pit Bull Victim Awareness (NPBVA) evolved out of the need to create a support and information hub for the growing number of pit bull victim groups. NationalPitBullVictimAwareness.org tracks pit bull attacks on an interactive map as they are reported by the media in the US and Canada. The resource is intended to help citizens, policymakers and elected officials better understand the scope of this increasingly urgent public safety issue. The website features state- and province-wide reports of serious pit bull attacks, disfigurements and fatalities, along with legislative updates pertaining to the breed.

In June of this year, 55-year-old Christiane Vadnais of Montreal, Canada, was fatally attacked in her own backyard by a neighbor’s pit bull. As a result of Vadnais’ death, Montreal City Council recently voted in favor of adopting measures to restrict the keeping of pit bulls. The breed-specific legislation (BSL) requires mandatory sterilization of pit bulls, secure containment at home and the use of a sturdy leash and muzzle while in public.

Jeff Borchardt, Founder of Daxton’s Friends for Canine Education and Awareness, applauds Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and City Council’s decision to adopt BSL, saying, “Breed-specific legislation, when properly written and enforced, is the most effective way to prevent serious canine-related maulings and fatalities. We thank Mayor Coderre for putting people first when it comes to public safety.” Borchardt’s 14-month-old son Daxton was fatally attacked by two pit bulls in 2013.

In a recent report on BSL, DogsBite.org, a charitable organization dedicated to reducing serious dog attacks, states that jurisdictions in at least 14 states and provinces have achieved successful results after enacting a breed-specific ordinance. In the past two-and-a-half years, 90% of state BSL pre-emption bills proposed by pit bull activists – which would have prevented local governments from enacting pit bull bans – were rejected. This year, Missouri, Kentucky, Washington, Georgia, West Virginia and Idaho all voted against BSL pre-emption – a 100% success rate in retaining local control of animal ordinances.

With pit bulls making up 37% of all dogs surrendered to US shelters, an important outcome of BSL is the alleviation of suffering of the dogs themselves. In an opinion piece for Newsweek, Daphna Nachminovitch, VP of Cruelty Investigations for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) calls pit bulls “the most abused dogs on the planet, hands down,” and writes, “Cities that have passed legislation similar to Montréal’s report a dramatic drop in the number of pit bulls entering shelters. In San Francisco, the number of pit bulls euthanized at the city’s animal-control facility dropped by 24 percent just 18 months after it had passed a law requiring that pit bulls be sterilized.”

In an effort to recognize the full impact of pit bull ownership on families and communities, the National Pit Bull Victim Awareness website also examines the effect of pit bulls on public safety, and the often devastating social and economic results after an attack. Various stakeholders in the pit bull issue are identified, including taxpayers, legislators, emergency and healthcare workers, animal control officers, law enforcement agencies, pet owners, farmers and humane organizations, among others.

Partner organizations in the NPBVA initiative include sponsor Daxton’s Friends (Wisconsin), along with Dangerous By Default (Maryland), Protect Children from Pit Bulls and Other Dangerous Dogs (California), BanPitBulls.org (USA and Canada) and Awareness for Victims of Canine Attack – AVOCA (Worldwide).

About National Pit Bull Victim Awareness:NationalPitBullVictimAwareness.org lists more than 70 organizations and advocacy groups from across the continent whose purpose is to alert the public and the media to the pit bull crisis. NPBVA also maintains a list of pit bull victims who are available for interviews with the media.

About Daxton’s Friends for Canine Education & Awareness:
Daxton’s Friends was formed in honor of Daxton Borchardt, who passed away on March 6, 2013, due to severe injuries sustained in a dog attack. Daxton’s Friends strives to educate the public about the importance of understanding dog breeds and how, with proper education and pet care, the number of dog-related incidents can be reduced. http://www.daxtonsfriends.com/

About Awareness for Victims of Canine Attack (AVOCA):
AVOCA is a national ad hoc coalition of bereaved families and survivors of canine attack. Our mission is to educate the public about dangerous dogs, and in particular fighting and gripping breeds, with respect to the risk they present to human and animal health and safety. http://www.VoicesoftheVictims.org

I’ll tell you what is unfair: being attacked by a pit bull and spending months or years recuperating. The scars and lost limbs, the mental trauma, the loss of someone who succumbs to death after an attack …while the dog is quarantined for 12 days and returned to the owners who perhaps, may pay a $500 dollar fine. Unfair are pit-and-runs and repeat offenders. The many other animals mauled and killed, the fact that people feel unsafe walking outside. That my dear is "unfair".

They want thier dogs they should be held fully liable for every death and disfigurement… they should be charged with the deaths maulings and lifetime medical care of the victims … your pitt … the dog breed bred for fighting to the death in dog fights…. not a pet… kills someone the pitt owner should be charged with murder… because they KNOW the dog is deadly… innocent people and pets should not have to be mauled to death and disfigured, because the dog got out, they didn’t have a muzzle… all Pitts should have to wear muzzles by law in public… would save the lives of people and pets… if they actually cared about the breed and not show boating and virtue signaling there would be a breeding ban on this dog given they populate most every shelter across the nation 50+%… but it’s about human ego and irresponsibility, not about saving pitt bulls, this is about the look at me I have a pitt bull and now I’m cool and I’m dangerous ego bullshit… you can’t even consider this a protection dog because you have to shoot it to death to get it to stop attacking… too unpredictable for a protection dog… not a pet… it’s a danger to anyone who has to live near the dog… most people can’t physically handle the dog, don’t know what a break stick is, can’t even get the dog to heel on a leash…. I was walking the trails and here comes this guy being dragged down the trail the pitt 15 feet in front… NO CONTROL over its head… another dog or person comes around the corner and the pitt owner couldn’t stop the dog from mauling anyone … the cult of irresponsibility

OKLAHOMAUpdate: The District Attorney has requested a judge be disqualified in the trial of the owner of the pit bulls that fatally mauled Cecile Short in 2017 in Oklahoma City due to allegedly showing bias toward the defense attorney and because she had to pay veterinary costs when her dog attacked another.

"Coleman ruled against showing any photographs of the victim’s injuries at trial. She banned the jury from seeing any police body camera footage and a firefighter helmet video of the dogs circling the victim’s body."

because WAY too many of us have to pay vet bills because other folks need big mean pit bulls and other dangerous dogs to make them feel big and those dogs are dangerous. THIS WOMAN WAS KILLED!!! MURDERED by a dog that should NEVER be owned by irresponsible people and most others

OHIOUpdate: The 14 vote margin upholding the pit bull ban in Parma is generating a recount on May 29.

"By percentage, the margin of victory is just .12%, which means the race isn’t over quite yet. Under state law, all local elections with a margin of victory of .5% or less must undergo an automatic recount. Ohio Revised Code 3515.04 states such recounts will be conducted by hand at the board of elections in front of all who wish to observe. Cuyahoga County has set the recount for this coming Wednesday, May 29."

FLORIDAThey’re trying to come up with excuses as to why the pit bull killed Christine Liquori at the Humane Society shelter. Perhaps, one day, people will realize they should not shelter pit bulls due to their genetic impulses.

Kathy Norris, a former volunteer coordinator, said in 2016 she and another woman were walking two dogs — one of them a pit bull — when the animals began to fight; the pit bull grabbed the smaller dog by the neck.

"I’m screaming for help, calling three different numbers for administrators, nobody picked up the phone, nobody was there," said Norris. "No management on duty.

"And now we have a dead woman," she said, referring to Liquori, "and it’s similar to what happened with me. It’s the same situation, nothing has changed."

They are spinning this in to a fundraiser aren’t they. "If we had just had more money for better facilities (and higher executive salaries) she would still be alive." No, if they did not insist on warehousing violent dogs no one wants, if they weren’t believers in live release rate über alles, and if they weren’t pushing the myth that "pits are just like other dogs" she would still be alive.

The national humane societies share very little with local chapters. It would be interesting to see what the legal expenses are for their aggressive reaction to any BSL or euthanization. Of course Best Friends employees were dispatched to advise this shelter what thir solutions should be. Likely not naming breeds when trying to adopt. If everyone had 3 or 4 bully dogs the world would be perfect.

What is needed: euthanize pit and pit mix/pit-type dogs.

What might result: more room in shelters for normal/safer adoptable dogs, more food to go round, and fewer incidents both inside the shelters and in our neighborhoods.

This story breaks my heart. This woman was faced with so many challenges in her life and she was turning it all around. She did not deserve to die like this. God bless her and my prayers are with her family. So much tragedy.

Unless and until Genetics is realized, the death toll from Pits and their mixes will continue. Dogs are not people and you cannot change 200+ years of breeding out of an animal with training. It is the exact reason that people are not allowed to own Lions and Tigers…

No Kill is not a good option. Large part of why there is such overcrowding because of dogs which are not adoptable (putting the public at risk) and should be put down. Guess what kind of dogs!

There is probably a limit to the amount of money most people would want to spend on continuing to warehouse growing numbers of vicious dogs. Reasonable people will put the needs of their own families first. The solution should be obvious. Reduce the number of dogs being sheltered. No-kill is a failure, made even worse by pit bull advocates who encourage a pit bull population explosion that they think other people should pay for.

It wasn’t due to funds, it is the Nanny Dog myth realized. So long as pro pits continue to disregard science and No-kill shelters exist, and are backed by the Best friends initiatives (money making off of the weaker minded) there will be maulings/deaths.

The tsunami of pits is causing these problems nationwide. Spay/neuter had become pretty well established and the numbers of dogs at shelters was stable or dropping. This remains the case for non-bully type dogs. A look at the population at almost any randomly selected shelter would support this. Perhaps the financial problem for governments will finally prompt a rational focus on the preventable disaster that sadly deaths and maulings has not.

“The cult of irresponsibility “

Hopefully SOMEDAY they will realize that Pits do theses things because, ITS IN THEIR GENES AND SHOWING THEM LOVE WILL NEVER CHANGE THAT !

When information and education don’t deter people from exposing their families to dangerous dogs, maybe legal liability will help get the message across.

I live in the Raleigh area and I am pleasantly surprised by the comments section on the newspaper website! There are some sane people commenting that agree with those of us in this group. I’m so used to seeing the PB nutters out in full force on those types of stories. Glad to hear there are charges pending!

One thing you won’t hear from #pitbull advocates: ideas on how to keep people safe from Pits attacks.

Why are charges pending against the cousin? Did he/she breed it? Design it? Sell/adopt it? Promote/advocate for ownership of Pitbulls? Do those that do so not have an ounce of culpability?

C’mon now, if this owner of one Pitbull is guilty, how much more guilt do organizations that promote ownership and even go so far as to fabricate the history of individual pits and the breed/type as a whole? We all know they do have MUCH responsibility for all this mayhem.

People will say it’s because of the way pit bulls are raised and that might contribute to they’re dangerous streak. However, the breed is the breed and aggression is built into them naturally, in my opinion.